Spatial Aspects of the Productivity Slowdown: An Analysis of U.S. Manufacturing Data

We investigate the spatial differentiation in the rates of change of manufacturing productivity growth in the U.S. Using an application of the “expansion method,” we focus on the relation between the productivity slowdown and the Snowbelt-Sunbelt shift that materialized at approximately the same time during the mid-1960s. We find that the spatial patterns of manufacturing productivity acceleration were different before and after the mid-1960s, and we suggest that a redirection of capital flows is the mechanism behind the spatial patterns observed and the interrelations between the slowdown and the shift.